


Something to Laugh About Later

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Pranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 05:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18309128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Because most of the Guardians are too busy to spend much time in person with kids and Jack does nothing but, North asks Jack’s advice on the kinds of toys popular this year. Jack’s happy to talk.(“Y'know, Furbies? All the rage. And I hear pogs make Pokemon look like yesterday’s leftover cereal.”)"So, Jack tries this like the prompt says, but…the prank doesn’t seem to work. Bunny explains why.





	Something to Laugh About Later

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 1/12/2015.

“Got all that, big guy?” Jack asks, confident that North doesn’t know the real reason he’s grinning so broadly.  
  
North looks up from a page of notes. “Yes, I have everything. Have to say, it is not what I expected.”  
  
“Oh, well, you know things change pretty fast out there in the world. It can be kind of unpredictable.”  
  
North nods. “This is very true. Perhaps I will need to spend some more time out there myself…”  
  
“But not this year!” Jack says. “Uh, I mean, you can sort of ease into it, right?”  
  
“Of course, of course.” North examines the notes again, distracted. “It is already late to begin conventional construction on some of these, but if I reassign team M-4…well, thank you very much, Jack! You have been big help!”  
  
Jack laughs–that won’t give anything away, will it?–and makes ready to fly off. “Any time, North. Any time.”  
  
***  
  
“…and so I don’t understand,” Jack says to Bunny several months later. “It didn’t work at all?”  
  
Bunny chuckles. “Amusing as it would’ve been, you were sunk from the get-go, Frostbite. North–and, all right, me and Tooth as well–we may not have been spending a ton of time around kids recently, but we’re not a pack of absent-minded uncles and aunts. And you’re still underestimating us.” He smiles and tilts his head at Jack. “And probably yourself, too, come to think of it, when it comes to being a Guardian.”  
  
“That seems like a weird thing to say to someone who you know has caused actual blizzards,” Jack says.  
  
“Well, that just proves my point. Come on, Jack, sit down with me.” Bunny settles onto the grass beneath a huge oak tree, one of several massive trees that make this part of the Warren just as green as the rest of it, but with softer, cooler light for those walking within it.  
  
“Wow,” Jack can’t help but say when he looks around. He’s never been to this part of the Warren before, and he’s surprised Bunny’s offering him this, especially after telling him about the prank he tried to pull on North.  
  
“Wow, indeed,” Bunny says. “You made those blizzards happen, and I made these trees happen. And it didn’t take long, either.”  
  
Jack cranes his head back until he flops backward on the grass. Any of these trees would dwarf any of the buildings in Burgess. “So what were you saying about me underestimating all of you?”  
  
“Well, what do you think North’s giving out when he leaves presents with kids, anyway? It’s not just plastic and cardboard, no matter what it looks like. It’s  _wonder_. That’s why you’ve got all those kids out there now totally excited by all those weird old toys; that’s why they’re thinking up new ways to play with them, new ways to use them. Because North gave them, so when the kids see them, they see something amazing, that’s just for them. And of course, the kind of wonder that’s part of North encourages curiosity and messing around with the thing, because it kind of reflects off the kid and they know they’re even more wondrous than the thing.”  
  
“Wow again,” says Jack. “So…it’s not really bribery, is it.”  
  
“Ach.” Bunny pushes his shoulder. “No, Frostbite!”  
  
Jack laughs. “Should I tell North your explanation?”  
  
“No way!” Bunny says. “Not unless he says something like that about me.”  
  
They sit in silence for a moment or two. “Course, in ten, twenty years or so, then you’re going to get the confused kids, but only Tooth will notice. Because all the nostalgia’s going to be really inexplicable.”  
  
“So…I did manage to prank…Tooth?”  
  
“Sure,” Bunny says. “But if you remember to laugh about it in 20 years, that alone will make me laugh harder than you.”


End file.
